Merge with Twitch Local Exporter

https://github.com/Tokenyet/local_exporters

YouTube Local Exporter

Turn the current YouTube tab into a local export pipeline.

YouTube Local Exporter is a Windows-first Chromium extension that exports video, audio, and subtitles from the current YouTube page to local files. It runs yt-dlp, FFmpeg, and optional Whisper transcription through a local native host, so you do not have to copy URLs, export cookies, or remember one-off shell commands.

No cloud transcription. No analytics. No generated media leaves your machine.

Why Use It

• Export the current YouTube tab instead of pasting URLs into a terminal.
• Reuse your signed-in browser session when yt-dlp needs cookies.
• Save MP4 video, audio-only files, or SRT/VTT subtitles from one popup.
• Prefer YouTube subtitles and fall back to local Whisper when a track is missing.
• Keep output under a folder you choose on your Windows machine.

Quick Start

1. Download youtube-local-exporter-vX.Y.Z-windows.zip from Releases.
2. Extract the ZIP.
3. Open chrome://extensions, edge://extensions, or your Chromium browser's extensions page.
4. Enable Developer mode.
5. Choose Load unpacked.
6. Select the extracted extension folder.
7. Copy the generated extension ID.
8. Open PowerShell in the extracted release folder and run:

.\scripts\install-native.ps1 -ExtensionId <extension-id> -Browser chrome
.\scripts\update-tools.ps1

Use -Browser edge, -Browser chromium, -Browser vivaldi, or omit -Browser to register all supported browser registry paths.

Open a YouTube watch page, click the extension icon, choose Video, Audio, or Subtitles, pick an output folder, then start the export.

What It Exports

• MP4 video with a selected maximum quality.
• Audio as m4a, mp3, opus, wav, or best available.
• Subtitles as SRT or VTT.
• YouTube subtitles first, local Whisper fallback when no subtitle track is available.
• Forced local Whisper subtitles when you want fresh transcription.

Screenshots

How It Works

The Manifest V3 extension reads the active YouTube tab only when you open the popup. It sends the export request to a Windows native messaging host, which runs the local toolchain and writes generated files to your selected output folder.

Release Downloads

• youtube-local-exporter-vX.Y.Z-windows.zip: complete Windows sideload bundle. Start here.
• youtube-local-exporter-extension-vX.Y.Z.zip: extension-only runtime package for inspection or custom installation.
• youtube-local-exporter-host-vX.Y.Z-windows-x64.exe: standalone native host executable included in the Windows bundle.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: checksums for release downloads.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11.
• Chrome, Edge, Chromium, or Vivaldi.
• PowerShell.
• Python 3.11 or newer if you install from source without the release-built native host executable.

update-tools.ps1 downloads helper tools into %LOCALAPPDATA%\YouTubeLocalExporter\tools:

• yt-dlp
• Deno for yt-dlp JavaScript challenge solving
• FFmpeg and FFprobe
• whisper.cpp
• the selected Whisper model

Install From Source

git clone https://github.com/Tokenyet/youtube_local_exporter.git
cd youtube_local_exporter
.\scripts\package.ps1

Load this folder from your browser's extensions page:

dist\unpacked\youtube-local-exporter

Copy the generated extension ID, then install the native messaging host:

.\scripts\install-native.ps1 -ExtensionId <extension-id> -Browser chrome
.\scripts\update-tools.ps1

The source installer creates a .cmd launcher that runs the Python native host. To install a standalone executable instead:

.\scripts\build-native.ps1
.\scripts\install-native.ps1 -ExtensionId <extension-id> -Browser chrome

When native-host\dist\youtube-local-exporter-host.exe exists, the installer copies and registers that executable.

Privacy And Permissions

Media export jobs are processed locally by the native host. The extension does not collect analytics, send generated media to a remote service, or use cloud transcription.

Permissions:

• activeTab: reads the current tab only when you open the extension popup.
• nativeMessaging: talks to the local native host that performs exports.
• storage: stores extension preferences such as default folder, export mode, formats, and subtitle settings.
• cookies: optionally provides YouTube cookies to yt-dlp for videos your browser session is allowed to access.
• YouTube and Google host permissions: limited to YouTube pages and related Google authentication domains needed for signed-in exports.

See docs/PRIVACY.md for the short privacy note.

Development

Run validation:

node --check src\background.js
node --check src\content.js
node --check popup\popup.js
node --check options\options.js
node scripts\smoke-test.mjs
python -m unittest discover -s native-host\tests

Package the extension runtime:

.\scripts\package.ps1

Package release assets locally:

.\scripts\build-native.ps1
.\scripts\package-release.ps1 -Version 0.1.0

Release Workflow

CI runs on pushes and pull requests. The release workflow runs when a tag like v0.1.0 is pushed, or manually from GitHub Actions with a version input.

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

The workflow validates the extension, builds the Windows native host executable, packages release downloads, writes checksums, and publishes a GitHub Release with notes from CHANGELOG.md.

Scope

This project is built for local sideload use. It is not a Chrome Web Store release target in v0.1.0. It does not support playlists, batch jobs, DRM bypassing, paywall bypassing, or cloud transcription.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.